Danny Gatton is insanely still relatively unknown. The first time I ever heard him was at a private birthday party for Les Paul at the Hard Rock in NYC to celebrate his, maybe 90th year. There were maybe 50 people there in total and I pretty much had the chocolate covered strawberries all to myself, LOL. Gatton blew my mind he was so awesome. He had tiny, tiny hands and I remember thinking that it was impossible to play as well as he was with tools so small. A God given talent he was. The other band was Aerosmith who took my requests as I was the only one standing and watching their small set. WTF was that all about? They had fun playing for me as one.

 

Some different ones for me!

1. Nels Cline
2. Graham Coxon
3. Jon Auer

 

The most comprehensive I've seen.

 

Terry Kath
SRV
EVH
and about 5000 more

 

So unfair to choose just three... let's put it like this: I'll mention 3 that I'm listening to a lot (currently):

The amazing Guthrie Govan

;

The terrific Lari Basilio

;

And MOJOe Satriani

 

There are of course sooo many fantastic guitarists that have graced our ears and blown our minds in many varied genre. Right here, right now at this moment because of what I've been recently listening, too I'll share...

Blake Mills who is good at everything, Tony Rice, who was a bluegrass monster but so very much more ,and of course and always, Jerry Garcia.

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2023

1/ Allan Holdsworth
2/ John Scofield
3/ Eivind Aarset

 

Man, the guitar has been my main hobby for over 30 years and I don't recognize nearly half the players listed so far. I guess there is a lot more for me to discover huh? Anyway, my current top 3 are (in no particular order):

) George Lynch (mostly the 80's Dokken stuff)
) Nuno Bettencourt (the last of the Guitar Heroes)
) David Gilmour (the most tasteful player ever)

Honorable Mentions:
Glenn Tipton (never got the recognition he deserved)
Eddie Van Halen (what else needs to be said)
Doug Aldrich (deserves more recognition, hell of a nice guy)
Mathias Jabbs (same as Tipton)
Roger Fisher (Heart, sadly had to be in the shadow of the Wilson sisters)
Mark Kendall (Great White, nobody ever mentions him...ever)
Jimmy Page, Alex Lifeson, Brian May

 

I like riffs, harmonies, feeling, solos, and tone (technique is important but is far from being king in my book, and I do not care for speed). My favorite overall is:

1) David Gilmour
2) David Gilmour
3) David Gilmour

Honorable mentions: Billy Corgan (wall of sound fuzz, riffs, compositions until Adore album and solos), Jimmy Page (riffs, harmonies, compositions, since I have been loving you and stairway to heaven solos), Brian May (his tone, riffs, Bohemian solo), Mark Knopfler (mainly for sultans of swing and brothers in arms solo, and money for nothing riff),Tony Iommi (riffs and war pigs solo), Robby Krieger (riffs, harmonies and solos), John Frusciante, Jonny Greenwood, Jim Martin (learned my power chords because of FNM), Kurt Cobain (compositions and riffs), Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (for dissonace and making sonic noise musical).

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2023

Nice to see a thread about favourite guitarists that isn't about who is BETTER! One thing that's always annoyed me about these types of discussions is the weird competitive angle that so many people seem to indulge in. Music and musicianship really isn't a competition and countless individuals have their own signature voice and style so it's a little puzzling that people think such things can be rated on a performance meter; valuing NPM (notes per minute) over goosebumps and blown braincells.

A lot of guitarists never understand why I cite '70s Steve Hillage. For me he his playing from this era was one of my greatest personal influences. The spirit he channeled into his music through the guitar really was unlike anyone else.

Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Robert Fripp, David Gilmour, John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix, Alex Lifeson, Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, Jan Ackerman, Ed Wynne, Andy Latimer, Brian May, Les Paul, Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, Pat Metheny, Al di Meola, Plini, Jason Richardson, Tosin Abasi, etc, etc, etc... Are we really supposed to rank such wonderful musicians?

Hello fellow gatherers...

 

I used to like electronic music, but these guys in this line-up always impressed me..

 

For me that is like how long is a piece of string... I might get close if it said the top three in every style of music in existence and even then, I probably would pass on attempting to answer it. I might have in my youth perhaps, but I definitely cannot now. Looking at everyone's choices and videos, none of them can be compared... they're all great in their own way.

 

All guitarists can be great in their own way, so choosing one to be the greatest is totally nonsense!
Just name 3 guitarists that have moved you in a special way. Not necessarily the best, the fastest or the most technical?
Just 3 that triggered your emotions more then others. That's what this is about!

 

Jerry Garcia
Trey Anastasio
Frank Zappa

Those three are my teachers. Every note I play carries something they infused in my soul.

But I wanna cite three more.

Hendrix, duh. Nothing would be the same without him.
Jonny Greenwood : first musician to teach me that the guitar could be played to sound like anything but the guitar.
Sonny Sharrock : greatest free jazz guitarist ever, enough said.

 

Love me some Steve Hillage. His 70s stuff was totally unique, and he showed how ahead of the curve he was by morphing into an early pioneer of psychedelic electronic music.
His collab with Evan Marc (aka Bluetech), Dreamtime Submersible, is my favorite techno album of all time.

Well, no, because Jerry Garcia will always be no.1

 

1 - Jimi Hendrix
2 - Django Reinhardt
3 - Andrew Ridgely

 

Right now? Today? Ok...
1) Gary Green from Gentle Giant. Guy has insane technical chops, can play tight in a band where every person is playing in a different time signature and still lay down the greasiest pentatonic blues wah solo ever. Legit genius imho.

2) Adrian Belew. Should need no explaination.

3) Steve Howe, just for his work up until 1980. Asia and beyond sucked but his dedication to rockabilly and jazz styles and refusal to acknowledge that the blues ever existed and then putting all that in a prog context was amazing.

BONUS PICK: Jan Ackerman. If you don't know him, find out. Probably only Terry Kath had licks like that in the late 60s and imo Jan was better. He sadly burned out quickly into a parody of himself.

 

His solo work post-1980 has some great stuff.